ISRO spy case: Maldivian national seeks damages for illegal custody

Fauzia Hassan was imprisoned in Kerala for over 3 years

September 26, 2018 01:00 am | Updated 01:00 am IST - KOCHI

Fauzia Hassan, who was accused in the fake ISRO spy case .

Fauzia Hassan, who was accused in the fake ISRO spy case .

Fauzia Hassan, the Maldivian national who was imprisoned in Kerala for over three years in the fake ISRO espionage case, has demanded that India compensate her, without waiting for her to apply.

In a conversation with The Hindu from the Maldives, Ms. Hassan said she was living in penury and did not have the resources to engage a lawyer to fight for compensation. “Without waiting for my request, the Government of India and the Kerala government should compensate me for the illegal custody and torture. They spoiled the education and future of my daughter Jila Hamdi, who was a student in India. She had to discontinue her studies as the police frequented the school and followed her. She too underwent great distress,” said Ms. Hassan in her first media interaction after the Supreme Court verdict.

“I should be compensated for all the losses, the physical torture and mental agony I suffered in Indian jail for no fault of mine,” she said.

Ms. Hassan, a grandmother now, was happy for former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan, who waged a valiant fight which saw the Supreme Court dismissing the espionage case as false and ordering him damages of ₹50 lakh.

“I am afraid to come to India as the Kerala Police and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) will again hound me. My children will not let me come to India. They don’t want me to get into trouble again,” she said when asked whether she would depose before the apex court-appointed judicial commission probing the false spy case.

She accused the IB and the Kerala police officials of trapping her and Mariam Rashida, another accused in the case, to destroy Nambi Narayanan, D. Sasikumaran and the then police chief, Raman Srivastava.

“I agreed to parrot the statements of the IB officials, who refused to identify themselves, when they threatened to arrest my daughter and rape her before me. As a mother, I wanted to save my daughter. I asked them not to touch her and agreed to make the confessional statement. No one sexually attacked me in custody, though I was severely beaten up,” she said.

“They video-recorded my statement after making me read out the names of the scientists from a paper that was held before me....They wanted me to confess that I gave money to Mr. Narayanan and Mr. Sasikumaran. They also wanted me to admit that Mr. Sasikumaran took me to his office (ISRO) and that I took photographs from there and sent them to Pakistan,” she said.

The 76-year-old now spends most of her time in Sri Lanka taking care of her grandchild. Ms. Hassan said she came to Maldives recently to vote in the presidential election.

She said she had a valid visa for one year at the time of her arrest on November 11, 1994. Ms. Hassan said her release from the jail was possible not because of anyone’s magnanimity, but because of the Indian law which prevented the long illegal custody of a person.

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